Opinion: Taking Global Action to Fight Hate

In
an unprecedented move, two women from the U.S. Department of State catalyzed a
youth movement that was later adopted by the London 2012 Olympic Games. Farah
Pandith, Special Representative for Muslim Communities at the U.S. Department
of State, offers her thoughts on the successful social media campaign she
co-launched, Hours Against Hate, and its impact on young people from diverse
backgrounds around the world.

Hate is hate, regardless of who is targeted. Whether
motivated by race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion or disability status,
we see the effects of bullying, prejudice, bigotry and discrimination globally.
The
State Department’s 2011 Human Rights Report found some disturbing trends. In
many countries, there was continued persecution of religious minorities, and an
increase in discrimination against members of racial
and ethnic minorities; people with disabilities; and lesbian, gay, bisexual or
transgender (LGBT) people – all of whom were frequent targets of abuse,
discrimination and violence.

Fortunately, the call to “do something” can be heard
from high schools to the halls of Congress, from technology tycoons to
grassroots organizers.

Hate is a learned behavior. So fighting it starts
with young people. This socially networked generation is playing an active role
in changing the way we treat one another. Regular people are creating movements
from Detroit to Delhi, and from Norway to Nigeria. In today’s world, the power
of one is multiplied, and the impact is unprecedented.

I want to tell you about one such movement called Hours
Against Hate, which launched in 2011 to leverage the
power of global citizens like you. It started with a spontaneous act and, in
two years, has grown into a global movement to promote mutual respect.

How
It Began

In June 2010, I was in a room in Astana, Kazakhstan,
filled with representatives of participating states of the OSCE (Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe) and several NGOs for a high-level
conference on “Tolerance and Non-Discrimination.” Flags of every one of the
member states sat on the tables in front of the seats for representatives of
various nations. The usual protocol was that a country was called upon to give
the official position on a topic outlined in the OSCE agenda. I was a member of
the U.S. delegation, and we were there because the U.S. was going to provide
our positions on Anti-Semitism, Christaphobia, “Islamophobia” and other forms
of discrimination. The U.S. seat rotated among various members of our
delegation depending on the issue being discussed.

I am the Special Representative to Muslim
Communities at the U.S. Department of State. This position was created for me
by then-Secretary Hillary Clinton on the heels of President Obama’s Cairo
Speech in June 2009. I work with our embassies around the world to build
partnerships and initiatives with young Muslims under the age of 30; Muslims in
Muslim-majority countries and Muslims that live as minorities. In this role, I
have traveled to more than 80 countries globally and know first-hand the power
of this generation.

Hannah Rosenthal, then-U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor
and Combat Anti-Semitism, was also a member of the U.S. delegation. Hannah’s
job is very different than mine; her role is Congressionally mandated to
monitor and combat anti-Semitism worldwide. Hannah was supposed to give the U.S.
response on anti-Semitism, and I was supposed to speak on countering global
anti-Muslim hatred.

That was the plan. However, we decided that the best
way to make a statement was to provide a new context to the message. Knowing
that the messenger mattered, we did something unprecedented: we switched
speeches.

When they called on the United States to speak on anti-Semitism,
I stood up and read our position. And Hannah did the same when they asked for
the U.S. position on “Islamophobia.” Both
of our statements ended with these identical words:

Afterwards, OSCE delegates thanked us for being
bold, but the youth from the NGOs who were also attending pushed us for more. They
said they wanted to “do something” – to be part of a positive response to push
back against hate of all kinds. They were speaking from their hearts, and we
heard their call for action. We came back to Washington determined to use our
global access to build coalitions and momentum around mutual respect.

In February 2011, we returned to the OSCE and formally
announced the Hours
Against Hate Campaignat
their headquarters in Vienna, Austria. Using Facebook,
the campaign asks young people to stand up for respect and dignity for all, no
matter their gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.

The Hours Against Hate platform is a movement built
on the concept of volunteering time for others. It asks people to spend an hour
or more of their time with someone who does not look, live, love, or pray like
them. It calls upon the next generation to walk in someone else’s shoes.

Upon hearing about this campaign, many of the
Ambassadors from the OSCE member states asked us to visit their countries to
share the campaign. While government buy-in was important, we knew that the
power of this campaign was in the global citizenry. We wanted to encourage spontaneity,
creativity and action by people all over the world.

Hannah and I traveled around the globe, sharing the
campaign from Cordoba to Istanbul to Bangkok. Young people started pledging,
journalists were writing stories, and the momentum built. Cities, universities,
artists, businesses, youth groups, NGOs, and individuals adopted Hours Against
Hate as their own and set up volunteer experiences. Mayors created formal
partnerships. World-renowned artists like Romero Britto from Brazil created an
original piece of art as the official logo for the campaign, and the bands Linkin
Park and Chromeo made videos. As 2011 came to an end, thousands of hours were
pledged, but we were not prepared for what was to come next.

This was a rare privilege, and we were extremely
excited. There are few global moments like the Olympic Games, which we saw as
the perfect partner for Hours Against Hate. With the London Olympic committee
onboard, Hannah and I went to Greece to petition the Olympic Truce Committee.
They saw the potential immediately and granted Hours Against Hate official
partnership. We felt very honored to have their gravitas as well.

Judith
Heumann, U.S. Special Advisor for International Disability
Rights, and six-time U.S. Paralympian and gold medalist cyclist Allison Jones
shared the campaign’s message during visits to inclusive British elementary
schools during the Paralympics in September 2012. A very special partnership
with Social Fitness,
a Canadian company devoted to making fitness technologically fun, was a
highlight. They were so inspired by the campaign that they designed and released
a smartphone app (found here and here)
that people all over the world are downloading to “walk a mile in someone
else’s shoes.”

Olympics
and Beyond

The Hours Against Hate campaign struck a chord with
people in every part of the globe. Its message is personal. People are pushing
back against discrimination of all kinds in a wide variety of ways. Today’s
youth will not be able to tackle the challenges of the future if they are
entrenched in the divisions of the past. Hours Against Hate is a campaign of
deeds, one step in the right direction – in someone else’s shoes.

From the Americas to Asia and Africa, we have seen historical
examples of different groups living together peacefully and prosperously. We
know that there has never been a “Golden Age” with regard to mutual respect,
but there have been times when communities have lived and worked together in
peace. We believe that this generation wants a future that is based on dignity
for all. We can’t get there tomorrow if we don’t speak up today.